Meanwhile, the Noda administration said that it would once again refrain from seeking Parliamentary approval for newly-appointed Commissioners to the NRA, including its Chairman. The NRA picks were controversial; four of the five members have received funding within the last two years, and Chair Shunichi Tanaka was previously Vice Chair of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC), which promotes nuclear power. Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura freely admitted that the government fears that the Diet will fail to approve the controversial appointments, and said that the Commissioners are legally free to continue at their posts because the country remains in “a state of nuclear emergency” following the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. Meanwhile, the government insists that the situation at the Daiichi plant has stabilized, and has approved the restart of two reactors at the Oi power plant, despite public protest and outcry.

Officials from Niigata announced this week that every municipality in the prefecture will be required to submit extensive emergency response and evacuation plans in preparation for a nuclear disaster at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant—even those that fall outside of the 30 km so-called Urgent Protective Action Planning Zone (UPZ). Last week, the NRA expanded evacuation zones from an 8-10 km radius around nuclear reactors to a 30 km radius. However, it also released new projections showing that in some areas, radiation plumes could travel up to 40 km from the site of a nuclear disaster, endangering those even outside of the UPZ. Prefectural and municipal officials agreed that all cities and towns within 50 km should be prepared for mass evacuations. Municipal emergency plans must be completed and submitted by March. (Source: NHK)

It is unbelievable that the " new" NRC sounds as though they can or have been bought off for favorable votes for utility companies. this is such an enormous mess that I seriously doubt that Japan will ever return to near normalcy. God bless the innocent people. Greenpeace please keep up the great work. Thank you Ms. McCann for keeping us informed.